Nine people face prostitution charges after Hot Springs police conducted a sting operation Saturday night at a local motel.
Six women, five of them from central Arkansas, were charged with prostitution after they agreed to perform sexual acts with an undercover officer for money via their cellphones.
Heather Copeland, 22, of Little Rock; London Hewitt, 35, of Little Rock; Lila Spivey, 35, of Little Rock; Morgan Fournier, 25, of Hot Springs; Stephanie Driskill, 29, of Hot Springs; and Candace Riley, 35, of Memphis were each taken into custody Saturday night or early Sunday at the Candlewood Suites motel located at 3404 Central Ave.
Three men were charged with promoting prostitution.
Police said Donte Womack, 41, of Little Rock drove Hewitt to the motel. When she went inside with an undercover officer, he drove off, a probable cause affidavit said. Officers stopped him at the intersection of Franklin Street and Central Avenue and arrested him.
Two other Little Rock men — Conor Person, 23, and Herman Tyler, 35 — were taken into custody after driving a woman to Candlewood Suites, where she negotiated the terms of a sexual act with an undercover officer, an affidavit said.
They were charged with promoting prostitution and possession of a controlled substance after police found powder that was identified as meth, the affidavit said. Spivey and Hewitt were also charged with possession of a controlled substance.
Police in Fayetteville also conducted a prostitution sting at a motel over the weekend, arresting 14 people Saturday.